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Connect Session (Commissions and Councils ONLY)

From Intimidation to Inspiration: Empowering Women to Write in Academia

Panelists will discuss academic writing challenges faced by women in social work programs using intersectional feminist and womanist frameworks. Panelists will identify systemic, structural, and individual barriers, particularly for BIPOC women, and share how the Women’s Council’s writing retreat workshop empowers women to achieve academic success.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, attendees should be able to:
  1. Upon completion, the participants will be able to use an intersectional feminist and womanist frameworks for analyzing academic writing process experienced by women in social work programs including the structures of oppression, the accessibility of writing resources, and the dynamics that can cause trauma in academia.
  2. Upon completion, the participants will be able to Identify systemic, structural, and individual writing challenges faced by women, particularly BIPOC women, including implicit bias, discrimination, imposter syndrome, and limited mentorship. Furthermore, creating spaces for networking, mentorship, and dedicated writing time can help address these challenges.
  3. Upon completion, the participants will be able to explore strategies to overcome academic writing challenges and facilitate a writing retreat workshop that allows women in academia to engage in interactive sessions, assess experiences, gain tools and motivation for scholarly writing, addressing the needs of BIPOC women in social work programs.